175 



The President concluded by briefly reviewing the Field Meetings of the 

 year, recommending the further investigation of the interesting question as to 

 the Drift of the valleys of the Wye and the Lugg, which was discussed at the 

 Bromyard meeting ; passing a deserved compliment to the researches of Mr. 

 Banks, of Kington, in reference to that huge crustacean, the Pterygotus, once 

 an inhabitant of the Old Red seas : and finally glancing at the highly interesting 

 meeting held at Abergavenny, and the valuable paper on that subject just read 

 by Dr. Bevan. 



In conclusion, Mr. Wheatley alluded to the paper read at the last Annual 

 Meeting by Mr. Flavell Edmunds, on the sudden appearance of certain plants, 

 new to the immediate district, on the spoil heaps and embankments of the railway 

 works (see antea, page 142). Since then, he understood from Mr. Edmunds, that 

 nearly all those plants had disappeared ; and he (the President) thought the 

 fact was worthy of record, while it certainly seemed to justify the theory of Mr. 

 Edmunds that the plants had been produced from long-buried seeds. The 

 President quoted some other instances of germination after the seeds of plants 

 had been buried for a very long period of time ; and then added that he under- 

 stood that Mr. Edmunds had found Scrophularia Ehrhardti at Huntington, and 

 Mellilotus officinalis and Ado.xa moschateUina at Himderton — both plants which 

 had not previously (he believed) been found in the Hereford district, although 

 common in distant parts of the county. 



After thanking the members tor the honour conferred upon him, and ex- 

 pressing his ardent desire for the continued usefulness and prosperity of the 

 Club, the President concluded amid applause. 



It was resolved that the addresses of the President and of his immediate 

 predecessor in ofiSce (the Rev. J. F. Crouch) together with Dr. Bevan's paper, 

 form the second part of the Club's Transactions, which will be forthwith placed 

 in the hands of the printer, so as to be ready for delivery to the members in the 

 course of the ensuing season. 



Mr. Charles Lingen, of Hereford, was then unanimously elected President 

 for the year 1857-8 ; and the Field Meetings were fixed for 



Tuesday, June 2nd, at Fownhope ; 

 ,, July 2ist, at Ludlow ; 

 „ August 25th, at Westhide. 



The programme for the third meeting was arranged so as to include the 

 Silurian formations at Shucknall, the Dormington landslip, &c., the Bartestree 

 trap-dyke, and the Hagley dome, the party returning to Hereford to dinner. 



